Download a PDF Autumn 2011 Newsletter

The Media Workshop worked in partnership with the Friends of St James Park and Upper Shirley High School to create a large scale cut metal artwork for the new St James Park in Shirley, Southampton.

The project started with some inter-generational workshops with elderly members of the local community. Children from Upper Shirley High learnt oral history techniques and interviewed the older people about their memories of the park.  These memories were then used to develop ideas for the artwork. The Media Workshop ran photography and screen print workshops  at the school exploring the ideas which could be used for the final piece. Silhouettes were created which reflected the activities that have taken part in the park over time.

One particular story told by an elderly gentleman became very significant to the young people. Arthur House had met his sweetheart in the park (later to become his wife) at the age of 15. They would often meet and sit on a park bench. Later when Arthur was away during the war, his wife would go to the park and read his letters sat on their bench. When Arthur’s wife died, Arthur would often visit the park and sit on the bench reliving the memories of their happy life together. Arthur was therefore very sad when he visited the park and found the bench gone.

The students were particularly affected by this story and unbeknownst to Arthur decided to raise money within the school to have a bench in the new park dedicated to Arthur and Winnie (his wife) by means of a plaque. They were also very keen to have a bench portrayed in the in final art work.

The Media Workshop also spent a considerable amount of time consulting with the local community about their ideas for the artwork. Ideas included referencing the local flora and fauna, Victorian ironwork, Art Deco design and referring to the park’s past as a pasture land. All of which are included in the final design.

The final artwork was created using the waterjet cutting technique. A high powered stream of water is used to cut a silhouette out of 3mm aluminium sheets. Three large scale panels were cut, powder coated black and then placed together to form the final work which is now in place in the new park on the retaining wall of the zip wire.

The Media Workshop worked in partnership with the residents of the Kingsland estate in central Southampton and the Central Local Housing Office to develop and produce new identity signage for the estate.

Over the space of about a year we ran number of community consultations and workshops with local residents to create designs for the entrances to the estate, flat signs and artwork for the children’s playground.

The final designs reflect and reference the design style of the local architecture and the main entrance signs include an artistic impression of a map of the local area. Local residents helped to decide the important landmarks to be included. The children’s play area signs were developed during workshops in which local children had a chance to express what they liked best about the play park.

The final pieces were created using a waterjet cutting technique. Sheets of aluminium were cut using a high powered jet of water to create the resulting silhouette designs.

The Media Workshop was asked to design and produce a number of art works for the new Oncology Centre at Southampton General Hospital. We were given the brief of creating work which would compliment several existing illuminated photographic panels currently located in the treatment rooms. The loose themes were pear blossom, silver birch and poplar trees. Taking these as a starting point we used a variety of media including screen printing, photography and digital imagery to create the final works. These are located in the corridors leading to the treatment rooms and in the waiting area.

The Media Workshop designed the cover for Liz Statham’s Counting Them In.

Counting Them In is for schools - and pre-schools and colleges - which have isolated bilingual learners. It offers guidance to staff on appropriate principles and strategies so they can develop and implement consistent good practice and give all their pupils equal access to educational opportunities and success in life.